More Highlights of Report
Utah Children Home Page
Not every child in Utah has a safe place play, access to a good education and health care.
Child advocates say the welfare of Utah's children should be important to us all.
KSL's Ruth Todd explains.
It's hard to live in Utah these days and not be disrupted by road construction.
While it is inconvenient, the road construction is a sign of growth, change and improvement.
These are exactly the concepts we must look at when talking about child well-being in our state.
It's a rally call for all Utahns.
Educate yourself-- and be concered about the future of Utah's youth.
Terry Haven, the Project Coordinator for Utah Kids Count says, "Why is nothing happening? Is the status quo okay? Is that what we want? Do we want to improve?"
Improving children's welfare is the goal of Utah's Children.
The watchdog group just released its annual report, called the Measure of Child Well-being in Utah.
Advocates examined the health, education, safety and economic security of young people.
What they found may surprise you.
"What's happening is we are seeing every year minute changes. Little things happening."
But several trends worry the group.
Especially an increase in low birth weight babies and a lack of prenatal care.
"Both are getting worse and that's a constant trend every year."
Here is the hard reality.
In 1987- nearly 2,200 mothers gave birth to underweight babies.
In 1997-- that number shot up to 2,800.
School drop out rates are also on the rise.
About 4,000 students quit school in the 1992-93 school year.
That number nearly doubled three years later.
The number of children abused or neglected also rose from 8561 confirmed cases in 1996 to 9185 cases in 1997.
How do you stop the trend?
Experts say like road construction, adults must plan ahead.
Meaning, providing the tools, materials, and professionals to make our youth succeed.
Roz McGee, Executive Director Of Utah Children says, "Get real. Look at the numbers and find out what the story is. Become part of the process of improving the condition of our children."
"It needs to move you to action. It needs to force you to say I'm not going to live with this. This is not acceptable and let's do something about it."
To read more about the Measures of Child Well-being in Utah, call our Family Now information line at 1-800-575-5751.
